


Bird's Eye View

by RedTeamShark



Series: Los Santos is No Place for the Innocent [6]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Ableist Language, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, Gun Violence, Los Santos, M/M, drug deals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 19:21:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7857919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedTeamShark/pseuds/RedTeamShark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Somehow, it didn’t cross Ray’s mind that he’s also killed people when he called Ryan a murderer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bird's Eye View

Geoff called him in on a job and Ray was in the office fifteen minutes later, looking like a little kid—baggy shorts, hooded sweatshirt, backpack. Except the baggy shorts had pockets full of bullets and the pocket of the hoodie had grenades and the backpack was loaded with the disassembled sniper rifle he preferred to use.

He sat back in the chair, listening to the boss detail his job for the day—their incoming shipments had been shorted recently, Geoff thought that it was someone at the docks taking an extra cut. Ray’s job for the evening was to hide out at the docks and keep an eye on the shipment, see if he could figure out what was causing it to be shorted.

“And when I do?” He questioned softly, nearly jumping out of his skin as he heard a low laugh behind him, felt a hand settle on his shoulder and a thumb brush over the newest hickey Gavin has left on his neck.

“Just leave that part of the job to me, kiddo.” A deep voice rumbled behind and above him. Ray glanced over his shoulder, swallowing hard.

Ryan, the murdering psychopath who just got out of jail and was already right by Geoff’s side, a trusted member of the inner circle. Ray glanced towards his tattooed boss, seeing a slight nod. He resigned himself to his fate, getting up and reshouldering his backpack before he left the office. Ryan was right behind him, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket.

–

It was a useful job, and more importantly a job Geoff wanted him to do, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t boring as shit. Ray fought down a yawn, keeping one eye focused through the scope of his rifle, lying prone on the top floors of the partially constructed building. He had a good view of the dock that Geoff used, even if it was windy and cold up there. It was a great view of the absolute nothing that was going on down there.

He jumped and pulled away from the sight when something heavy fell on him, scrambling for the handgun beside him even as he realized that Ryan was back from his patrol of the perimeter and had brought a blanket up. Ray relaxed slowly, resuming his prone position under the heavy blanket, eye back in the scope. Ryan was almost eerily silent when he moved and it was completely unnerving. “Anything out there?”

“Nothing.” A sigh as he settled to the floor, leaning against one of the support beams. “It’s dead quiet down there, just night security guards. All our handlers are in an office watching television and drinking coffee.”

“Don’t suppose there’s piles of coke stamped ‘property of Geoff’ in the office with them, huh?”

Ryan laughed. “When has a job ever been that easy?”

With a sigh, Ray looked away from the scope again. “Nothing’s ever easy.” He agreed, reaching back to pull the blanket a bit higher on his shoulders.

“Well…” A hum of consideration from the other man, before he once again settled into his utter stillness. “You might be right.”

There was quiet and when Ryan got up to do another patrol, Ray wasn’t aware he had gone until he saw the other man down by the docks. He sighed, tracking him through the scope, wondering just how Geoff could trust a guy like that… He was obviously fucking crazy, but whatever he’d said to Geoff outside the apartment the day Ryan had gotten out of prison seemed to have convinced the boss that he was trustworthy. It wasn’t Ray’s place to question it, hardly at all—he wasn’t under any illusions about having sway with the boss, he just did what he was told to when he was told to—but still… Even for a newcomer to Los Santos like himself, it didn’t take much effort to hear other people whispering about how the madman had returned, the murder-happy psycho who fancied himself a king among men, who bowed to no one and only followed Geoff’s orders because it was ‘fun.’

“You’re thinking about me.” Ryan spoke from above him and once again Ray jumped, cursing under his breath that this guy had been able to get the drop on him three times in one day. Not to mention his apparent ability to read minds.

“No, I wasn’t.” Ray grit out, turning back to his rifle.

“Oh, but you were. I recognize the look, all the new guys have it—who is this psychopath and why does Geoff trust him, right? I bet people have had a lot of interesting things to say about me since I got out of prison. Bring up all my past glories, so to speak. Have you heard about the guy who’s kneecaps I ripped off? That was one of our own, you know. Someone who decided to plan a power-play, try to take out Jack. Poor bastard never stood a chance once I got wind of it, of course. I think he’s probably at the bottom of a ditch somewhere—“

“Let’s just focus on the job, okay?” Ray cut him off, resolutely clenching his jaw against the spill of words that wanted to come from his lips. Calling the guy he was supposed to be working with a murderer and a psycho wasn’t going to help the situation.

“You’re forgetting something important, though.” Ryan’s fingertips ran through Ray’s hair, almost affectionate, making him shudder and jerk away.

“What?” He hissed, darting a glance over his shoulder.

“You’re forgetting that you kill people, too. Those guys that shot up your boyfriend a couple of months ago, you killed them—threw a grenade in their midst, didn’t you? You ever seen what a grenade does to a person if it doesn’t kill them right away? And then there’s Liberty City—“

“Shut up.” Ray’s voice was low, his hand once more on his handgun, turning it slightly to aim at the other man. “Fine, I kill people, too. Maybe they suffer, maybe they don’t. But it’s not some bloodthirsty slaughter for my own enjoyment. It’s work. I wouldn’t do it if people would just fuckin’ learn not to mess with what they have.”

Ryan smiled, nodding his head towards the docks. “Shipment’s here. Keep your eyes on the job.”

Cursing under his breath, the Puerto Rican turned back to his rifle, hand leaving his pistol as he watched the docks, watched Geoff’s shipment unload. He frowned, turning the scope to zoom in slightly as one of the dock workers opened a package. “Red jacket.” Ray whispered, unknowing and uncaring if Ryan was actually still up there. His frown grew sharper as the guy carefully stuck one of the smaller samples of coke into his jacket before resealing the package and sending it along. So that’s who had been shorting them… only a sample size at a time, but it would add up. Briefly, Ray wondered how long it had been going on; if Jack was tracking their incoming, he was willing to bet no more than two weeks.

Footsteps behind him and Ray reached for his gun, rolling over and pointing it, eyebrows lifting in surprise to see Ryan. “I decide not to sneak up on you so you won’t shoot me, and you almost shoot me anyways.” The man noted dryly, nodding towards the stairs. “Come on, we got what we need. Let’s get out of here.”

Ray sat up slowly, carefully taking his rifle apart and putting it back into his backpack. He followed Ryan down the stairs, sighing and looking towards the ocean as they headed back to the car. “Look, about what I said up there—“

“You were lying, I know.” Ryan smiled, hands once more stuffed into his pockets. “You kill because it’s fun, just as much as you kill because it’s the job. Maybe I’m insane and no question that I’m a murderer, but I’m not stupid. I recognize when people are like me.”

“I’m not like you.” Ray snapped, pulling his backpack a bit higher onto his shoulders.

“You’re just like me. You think it’s fun to survive while someone else dies. And it is. We’re not competition, kiddo, we work for the same boss. Hell of a lot better than the guy you were working for back in Liberty City, too. Geoff treats his people right as long as they do right by him.” Ryan frowned, shaking his head. “Sorry, my thoughts are getting away from me. Point is, I’m not going to rip your kneecaps off.”

“Not unless I fuck with you, right?” Ray asked dryly, trying to hide his sudden apprehension with sarcasm.

“Nah, not even then.” Ryan opened the car door, sitting in the driver’s seat and turning a wide grin on Ray. “I don’t think there’s much that you could do to get me to that level… But if you ever want to test me, just remember something important.” The brunette reached over, pressing a finger lightly to his chest. “You’ve got someone you love, and hurting him will hurt a lot more than hurting you. This isn’t Liberty City, Geoff’s not nearly as forgiving as the asshole you two used to work for. You fuck up and I go after Gavin, see how long he can scream before he loses his voice. He fucks up and you get to learn what a real ‘bloodthirsty psycho’ is capable of.”

Ray swallowed, leaning away from the finger on his chest, looking anywhere but at Ryan. “Don’t… don’t fuck with Gavin.” He whispered, wishing that his voice would stop shaking.

Ryan laughed, starting the car and heading back towards Geoff’s place. “Yeah, I figured that’s about what it’d take to shake you up.” He glanced over at the younger man, shrugging. “I don’t do anything to our people that Geoff doesn’t order me to, though, and he actually trusts you two. So I suppose you’re safe. Also, sorry to force your hand like that, but you learn a lot about a person when he’s scared. Learn a lot about what he’ll do.”

Silence reigned in the car until they arrived at Geoff’s, both men getting out, heading into the elevator to Geoff’s office. Ray leaned on the wall, closing his eyes for a moment.

“So… what will I do, when I’m scared?”

“The same thing you did in Liberty City—a massacre.”

“That was… that was for Gavin. We had to. We couldn’t stay there anymore and—“

“Relax.” Ryan shrugged as the doors opened, his smile more genuine in the soft lighting of the reception area. “It’s in the past and it doesn’t need to be brought up.”

–

Back in his apartment, curled up in bed with Gavin’s arms around him, Ray finally relaxed. What had happened in Liberty City wasn’t something he wanted to think about, but the conversation with Ryan had thoughts of the east coast running through his mind. Everything that he’d done had been for the man currently sleeping with his chest pressed to Ray’s back, he knew that… and Ryan knew it too, had pinpointed it so easily and surely that it was like he was looking right inside Ray’s head.

“I’m not like him.” He whispered into the dark, turning slowly in Gavin’s arms, kissing the British man as if that would prove his statement. “I’m not.”


End file.
